I first came across Pit People when I had an invite to the private beta and it clicked.

It's possibly most saccharine crap-sack world I've come across and the sound track really helps to enforce this with a mix of tunes with influences from trap to flamenco and all with an inferred retro game sound feel. But it is a Behemoth game so you kind of know that going in to it, as that is pretty much their entire catalogue of games.

One of my favourite from Pit People remains the main theme, called 'It's Us', composed by Patric Catani

It's a very distinctive track quite infectious - quite easy to find yourself bopping along as you watched hand drawn characters heal themselves by eating parts of their muffin cleric and brutally hacking down enemies with a frankly mad selection of weapons from giant corkscrews to carrot flinging bows by way of swirly lollipops and not forgetting rusty swords and uzi's, all whislt the narrator actively wants to kill you and your turn based team of misfits.

The Grandia games have been defined by their excellent battle system, but said battle system is thankfully used in service of some excellent stories. The first game in particular is a real charmer. It skews younger than its contemporaries, with an upbeat atmosphere, colorful visuals, and an exciting sense of adventure. The games soaring theme evokes these traits perfectly, and in my minds eye it conjures images of sweeping vistas and daring heroes on a quest, the kind that will certainly have a happy ending.
It sounds, in a world, Grand.

I know you have featured Gower Glove from Far Cry Blood Dragon before on the show, but I don’t think we have had the main theme before? (quick search suggested not, could be wrong)

I love this game, everything from the visual style, the sound, Michael Biehn and of course the music. It is like they looked into my brain and took all the things that made up my childhood and put them in one great game.

I just finished Donkey Kong and was very impressed with the soundtrack. The reward for making it through the final boss by the skin of my teeth was the song that plays over the ending credits. Impressive stuff and just about worth the slog through the last levels. Just about.

Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance was my first real experience with the Mortal Kombat games despite having played the previous games before Deadly Alliance. That was mostly due to playing them at an early age and not understanding the lore or history of each fighter until I was gifted a copy of MK:DA. Looking back at the music of the early 3D era was quite a blast as several tracks from both DA and the sequel Mortal Kombat Deception were filled with nostalgia beats of my teenage youth.

Sonic Mania has been one of the many highlights of 2017 for me, it was a game where the team behind it truly understood the mechanics that make Sonic games appealing and as a result produced the best game the little blue mammal has been in in well over a decade. Of course, the Sonic series is well known for its fantastic music and here, composer Lee Topes does not disappoint. He captures what made the Mega Drive tunes so memorable and successfully gives us his vision of how that sound would have evolved if a 2D Sonic game was made on the Saturn. One of my highlights of this soundtrack is Act 1 of Mirage Saloon Zone where you play as Knuckles. Unlike Sonic's Act 1 which mostly involves battling badniks in the sky, Knuckles has to go through a more traditional platforming level while bouncing off pianos and launching himself from giant pistols. The music accompanying this level is a toe tapping hip hop track that is reminiscent of something you would hear in the early 90s infused with a spaghetti western type feel. Usually when Knuckles and hip hop are mixed together, the results are tragically cheesy but here it works sublimely and makes one wish that Topes was given the chance to work on more original levels as he can certainly hold his own against the likes of Masato Nakamura and the other greats from the Mega Drive era.

Since Can and Rinse just covered the latest Zelda release, I figured I would drop this little gem here. When I first came across this song, it was through an early file sharing application. LimeWire I think it was called. It was labeled System of a Down covers Zelda. Of course later on I learned this was actually by The Rabbit Joint and was submitted onto OCremix. It's a short, fun little tune that shouldn't be taken too seriously, but it's a ton of fun to listen too.

As I am very excited to hear what the panel think about one of my favourite games of all time in this year's volume, I thought I'd share my favourite track from it's wonderful OST.

Brian Tyler's score brings all of the ingredients of a pirate adventure to an evocative simmer. You can hear the sweltering heat, the vast blue expanse, the rolling waves and the crashing, splintering conflict in every composition. No track expresses the feel of this game and the internal conflict of its protagonist better than this one.

In honor of its impending podcast coverage, some suggestions from Final Fantasy IX, composed by Nobuo Uematsu
You're not Alone!

This track plays at a time where the games protagonist has reached rock bottom, and the entire party rallies to his side, affirming the lessons they've learned and the bonds they've forged. There is not another part of the game like this, and no part of the soundtrack like this. They work in perfect synergy, enhancing each other, to the point where they're impossible to imagine apart. Merely hearing a few notes of this track brings the entire emotional journey of this game flooding back all at once- melancholic, yet hopeful. Final Fantasy IX in a nutshell.

This amazing piece by Akira Yamaoka for the remake of The 25th Ward: The Silver Case (one of Suda 51's earlier games prior to KIller7 and the like) immediately make me want a crime drama scored primarily by him. Metropolitan Edge immediately sets the scene for a gripping romp through the seedy streets of the titular (and supposedly-utopian-but-clearly-not) 25th Ward. This song and the rest of his contributions to the soundtrack are the main reasons I hope to check out the game myself... after playing through its prequel The Silver Case first, of course.

Fun fact: the original 25th Ward game was originally only available on mobile phones (i.e. pre-smartphones) and release periodically. Rather than a remaster, the version on PC and consoles is a full remake, which also explains the new soundtrack featuring a few new artists instead of relying on the original OST composed by Masafumi Takada - who you may remember composed the Killer7 and Danganrompa soundtracks (among many others)

For most of the Investigation portions of the Danganrompa games, the music was exiting but never made me feel like a detective working on a murder case. Despair Searching from Danganrompa V3 fixes that issue with its smoother and contemplative tone. From what I can tell, this is a remix of the Box 15 song from the original Danganrompa game with a film noir flair to it, but don't quote me on that one.

For those asking, the order for major storylines (in terms of how you should play/watch them in) goes

Danganrompa: Trigger Happy Havoc

Danganrompa 2: Goodbye Despair

Danganrompa Another Episode: Ultimate Despair Girls: Just Read a Synopsis For This One; The Story Isn't worth the Slogfest of a Game

Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School* (Yes, I know it's called Hope's Peak Academy in the games. It's still the same place, also, this is an anime)

*watch the anime by going back and forth between Future and Despair episodes, as the show was intended to be watched. Also, watch the last episode with the English dub. You'll thank (or curse) me later.

In honor of its impending podcast coverage, some suggestions from Final Fantasy IX, composed by Nobuo Uematsu
You're not Alone!

This track plays at a time where the games protagonist has reached rock bottom, and the entire party rallies to his side, affirming the lessons they've learned and the bonds they've forged. There is not another part of the game like this, and no part of the soundtrack like this. They work in perfect synergy, enhancing each other, to the point where they're impossible to imagine apart. Merely hearing a few notes of this track brings the entire emotional journey of this game flooding back all at once- melancholic, yet hopeful. Final Fantasy IX in a nutshell.

Continuing my suggestions for FFIX.

The FInal Battle, by Nobuo Uematsu

Oh Necron. When you've become the poster child for the "Final Boss appears out of nowhere" trope, you know this is one thing FFIX probably shouldn't have paid homage to. This is the one case where I cling to elaborate fan theories in order to justify it all, even when Square themselves debunk them. Still, while theres no denying that he's a bit of a letdown, its at least thematically appropriate from the heroes to face off against an embodyment of Death itself. And the fight itself is certainly not forgettable, curtesy in no small part to yet another killer Uematsu composition. It may not be another Dancing Mad or One Winged Angel, but theres a distorted manic energy to this track that still gets my blood pumping to this day.

(Theres quite a long lead in to the theme proper, so maybe one could start off from the 1 minute mark? The first loop of the song concludes at roughly 3 minutes and 40 seconds)

It's saddening how few people are talking about Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom, but it's heartening to see that the Wonder Boy series continues in official remakes and spin-offs like this.
This game, officially endorsed by the original Wonder Boy creator Ryuichi Nishizawa, is quite frankly an absolute triumph. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the dizzyingly gorgeous soundtrack, combining all-new tracks with familiar Wonder Boy melodies.
This track - "Fields" - is everything you'd expect for the beginning of a rip-roaring adventure; an inspirational piece suggesting triumph and wonderment. Most importantly, it harks back to what I consider the golden age of game music: where without CD-quality instruments and recordings, you had to rely on catchy hooks instead. Thankfully, this track boasts both of these with spectacular effect.

All the levels in Shovel Knight have perfectly appropriate music to go with them, matching level design with atmosphere in a way that compliments the whole production and pays tribute to the NES adventures that came before.

But, for me, La Danse Macabre, and the Lich Yard in general, standout above the rest. When the already dangerous level goes dark and only illuminates your path with flashing lightning and dimly lit sky, it's the type of cinematic adventure that only a 2D game like Shovel Knight can pull off. Maybe it's because it's the level and music that feels most like a Castlevania game to me, but it's the course that I think about the most and the score I go back to more often than the rest of the soundtrack.

My exposure to the Katamari series has been limited but what little I have experienced I have absolutely adored. We Love Katamari is truly one of the many highlights of the PS2 and would happily recommend to anyone who wants to try out the more unorthodox side of that console’s library. Part of what makes this game such a delight is that wonderful soundtrack with its wide variety of genres and moods on offer. While its music style is commonly perceived to be on the kooky and wacky side of things there are some extraordinary exceptions to this rule. One of these is my particular favourite, “Angel Rain” by Yukiko Ehara otherwise known as YOU. Its mixture of accordions and violins creates a sublime piece that evokes memories of walking hand in hand with the love of your life while you look in each other’s eyes. This song epitomises romantic nostalgia, just gorgeous.